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Home , Confidence, Mehmet Akif Ersoy

Vol. 12(22), pp. 1107-1111, 23 November, 2017

DOI: 10.5897/ERR2017.3385 Article Number: 868219366665 ISSN 1990-3839 Educational Research and Reviews Copyright © 2017 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR

Full Length Research Paper

Emotional intelligence and self-esteem as predictors of teacher self-efficacy

Harun Şahin

Division of Curriculum and Instruction, Department of Educational Science, Faculty of Education, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, .

Received 25 September, 2017; Accepted 29 October, 2017

Teacher self-efficacy is related to teachers or pre-service teachers competent in their profession. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy perceptions and their and self-esteem. The study group of the current research comprised a total of 212 pre-service teachers of whom 141 are females (66.5%) and 71 are males (33.5%) and whose ages range from 20 to 35. The study conducted with fourth year’s students in Mehmet Akif Ersoy University and from Early Childhood Education, Elementary Teacher Education, Social Studies Teacher Education, and Mathematics Teaching Program. The data of the current study were collected by using Teacher Self-efficacy Scale, The Emotional Intelligence Scale-Short Form and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. In the analysis of the collected data, Pearson Product-moment Correlation Coefficient and multiple linear regression analysis were used. When the research results were examined, it was found that while some sub-dimensions of emotional intelligence (well-being, sociality and self-esteem) positively and significantly predict the pre-service teachers’ self- efficacy level, some other dimensions (self-control and ) do not significantly predict the self-efficacy level.

Key words: Teacher self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, self-esteem.

INTRODUCTION

Self-efficacy is an individual’s perception of whether Self-efficacy can be researched as general self-efficacy he/she can handle a specific job and first it was explored as well as self-efficacy specific to the situation. The by Bandura (1977) in his social-cognitive theory. situation-specific self-efficacy can also be expressed as Moreover, self-efficacy belief determines how an self-efficacy in specific issues such as academic or inter- individual will cope with his , thoughts, and personal (Chen et al., 2004; Scherbaum et al., 2006). difficulties and forms his/her conviction about whether The situation-specific concept also includes teachers and he/she he will succeed in a job. People with self-efficacy pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy perceptions. Teacher beliefs are more determined to successfully complete a self-efficacy is related to teachers or pre-service teachers job they are responsible for. feeling competent in their profession (Çapa et al., 2005).

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Teacher self-efficacy is also related to the teacher’s then his/her self-esteem is relatively lower. Individuals confidence in his/her capacity to ensure the participation with high self-esteem respect themselves, have close of students hard to motivate and to promote their relationships and have strong coping skills (Baumeister et eagerness to learn. In this connection, it can be argued al., 2003; Rosenberg, 1965; Sam et al., 2010). When the that even if a teacher or a pre-service teacher has the literature focusing on issue of self-esteem is examined, it power to cope with a difficulty, if they do not believe in is seen that there are studies investigating the this power, they will fail (Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk- relationships between self-esteem and contact obstacles Hoy, 2001; Ünüvar, 2010). and life satisfaction (Tagay, 2015); and When the studies in the literature focusing on teacher psychological well-being (Güloğlu and Karaırmak, 2010); and pre-service teacher self-efficacy are reviewed, it was and communication skills and psychological well-being discovered that there are some studies exploring different (Tagay and Karakelle, 2014). variables regarding teacher self-efficacy (Başer et al., According to Bacchini and Magliulo (2003), there is a 2005; Çalışandemir and Senemoğlu, 2005; Çapri and significant relation between self-efficacy and self-esteem. Çelikkaleli, 2008; Ekici, 2006; Girgin, 2017; Yeşilyurt, Teacher’s self-efficacy and self-esteem traits are very 2013). There are also some other studies investigating important for their personal and career development. Also the relationships between teacher self-efficacy and pre- self-efficacy and self-esteem increase person’s oral service teachers’ metacognitive learning strategies communication and ability to cope with social problems (Baykara, 2011); skills (Gürlen, 2011); (Verba et al., 1995). The purpose of the current study is professional (Girgin, 2017; Kafkas et al., 2010) to investigate the relationship between the pre-service and burn-out levels (Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2010). teachers’ teacher self-efficacy and their emotional Bandura (1977) emphasizes that life experiences, intelligence and self-esteem. Although there is no verbal skills of individuals and their psychological state consensus on which characteristics teachers should are influential in the development of self-efficacy. In this have, it seems that a great deal of research has been regard, it is thought that emotional intelligence may be conducted on this subject in recent years. As is known, it related to self-efficacy. Emotional intelligence refers to is important for teachers to feel competent in their the ability to define one's own and others' feelings, to profession both for their professional satisfaction and for motivate himself/herself and to manage his/her the success of their students. In addition, the education in his/her intra-personal and inter-personal relations. service provided by teachers with high self-efficacy will Salovey and Mayer first used the concept of emotional be more qualified (Bümen and Özaydın, 2013). It is the intelligence in the academic circles in 1950 (Goleman, first study which brings into pre-service teachers’ self- 2000). Emotional intelligence emphasizes the individual’s efficacy, emotional intelligence and self-esteem. As ability to establish healthy communication and his/her known, teacher training programs aim to improve pre- social aspect. People who experience problems in their service teacher’s field knowledge and competence and social relations generally become disoriented, which self-confidence for teaching. The current study aims to causes them to more and their mental health to determine the variables thought to be predictors of the deteriorate (Gross, 1998). Individuals with high levels of pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy. The findings of the emotional intelligence can better understand the study are believed to make some contributions for expectations, strengths, weaknesses and needs of researchers and teacher training programs. others. In addition, these individuals can be more open to positive and negative experiences and more comfortable to deal with these experiences (Baltaş, 2006). Thus, it METHODOLOGY can be said that emotional intelligence is an important trait for teachers. In the literature, there are studies The current study employed the relational survey model. The relational survey model is used to determine the relationships exploring the relationships between emotional between variables and to predict the possible outcomes. The intelligence and sense of humor, personality and well- correlation level between two or more variables is analyzed by being (Kazarian and Martin, 2004); psychological means of statistical tests (Metin, 2014). The study made use of the intimidation (Erdemir and Murat, 2014); and stress coping standard multiple regression analysis in order to prove the power of (Deniz and Yılmaz, 2006). Similar to emotional the assessment of emotional intelligence self-esteem to predict self- intelligence, the ability of the individual to arrive at better efficacy of pre-service teachers. The dependent variable of this research is pre-service teacher’s self-efficacy and independent awareness of his/her expectations, strengths and variables are self-esteem and emotional intelligence. weaknesses is related to self-esteem. While the self is the individual’s perception of himself/herself, the self-esteem is the unity of the Study group individual’s opinions about himself/herself and his/her expectations related to approval or disapproval of his/her The study group of the current research is comprised of a total of 212 pre-service teachers of whom 141 are females (66.5%) and 71 opinions. If the person tends to evaluate himself/herself are males (33.5%) and whose ages range from 20 to 35. The study positively, then his/her self-esteem is relatively higher; was conducted with fourth year’s students in Mehmet Akif Ersoy yet, if he/she tends to evaluate himself/herself negatively, University and from Early Childhood Education, Elementary Şahin 1109

Teacher Education, Social Studies Teacher Education and predicting variables are emotional intelligence and self-esteem. Mathematics Teaching Program. Univariate normal distribution conditions (kurtosis and skewness) before the analyses (multiple normal distribution and equilibrium conditions) were investigated before path analysis. Prior to the Data collection tools analysis of the data, four incomplete data were excluded from the data set. Furthermore, standardized z scores were considered while Teacher self-efficacy scale examining one-way extreme values. A total of 14 observations whose standardized z scores are outside the score interval of -3 The teacher self-efficacy scale developed by Tschannen-Moran and +3 were excluded from the data set. In the model, there should and Hoy (2001) and adapted to Turkish by Çapa et al. (2005) not be a correlation between the error terms. In this connection, consists of 24 items and 3 sub-dimensions. The results of the first, the Durbin Watson value, which is expected to be between 1.5 confirmatory factor analysis indicate a good fit. The scale was first and 2.5 and is used to test the auto-correlation in the model, was translated to Turkish by researchers having a good command of calculated and it was found to be 1.93 so there is no auto- English and having worked in the field of self-efficacy. The correlation in the model, standard errors of b coefficients are very Cronbach-alpha reliability values for the sub-dimensions of the small and the regression assumptions is satisfied. The correlation scale are 0.82, 0.86, and 0.84. In the current study, Cronbach-alpha between the variables of the study was tested with Pearson reliability coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.95. correlation coefficient and then standard multi-regression analysis was conducted to determine the extent to which emotional intelligence and self-esteem predict teacher self-efficacy. The Emotional intelligence scale-short form research data were entered into SPSS 15 program and then analyzed in this program. The significance level was set to be 0.05 The emotional intelligence scale-short form (TEQue-SF) developed in the current study. by Petrides and Furnham (2000, 2001) and translated to Turkish by Deniz et al. (2013) is a 7-point Likert scale consisting of 20 items. The aim of the scale is to determine individuals’ emotional FINDINGS competence levels. High scores taken from this scale indicate that the emotional competences are perceived as high and low scores mean that emotional competences are perceived as low. The Correlation coefficients showing the relationships scale’s linguistic validity and equivalence were confirmed by the between the variables and the results of the descriptive positive correlation between the scores taken from the English and statistics conducted prior to the multiple standard Turkish versions of the scale. In order to test the construct validity regression analysis performed to determine whether the of the scale, the exploratory factor analysis was conducted and as a result a four-factor construct (well-being, self-control, emotionality, sub-dimensions of emotional intelligence, sociability, and sociability) consisting of 20 items was obtained. The emotionality, self-control and well-being and self-esteem confirmatory factor analysis results of the scale indicate a good fit to predict teacher self-efficacy are presented in Table 1. the sampling. Internal consistency reliability coefficient of the scale As shown in Table 1, the independent variables have was found to be 0.81 for the whole scale and test-retest reliability correlations with each other and with the dependent coefficient was found to be 0.86. variable at the level of 0.01 and 0.05. The correlation In the current study, Cronbach-alpha reliability coefficient was found to be 0.68 for the sub-dimension of well-being, 0.47 for the values should not exceed 0.90 in terms of multi- sub-dimension of sociability, 0.40 for the sub-dimension of correlation risk (Çokluk, Şekercioğlu and Büyüköztürk). emotionality, and 0.58 for the sub-dimension of self-control. Therefore, as there was no multi-correlation problem, the regression analysis was continued. The results of the standard multiple regression analysis conducted to Rosenberg self-esteem scale determine whether emotional intelligence and self-

The Rosenberg self-esteem scale developed by Rosenberg (1965) esteem predict self-efficacy are shown in Table 2. and adapted to Turkish by Çuhadaroğlu (1986) and Tuğrul (1994) is As shown in Table 2, emotional intelligence and self- a four-point Likert scale having five positive and five negative esteem explain nearly 38% of the total variance in statements. The reliability of the scale was tested by calculating teacher self-efficacy of the pre-service teachers Cronbach-alpha coefficient and it was found to be 0.85, which is (R=0.613, R2=0.376 F (6-204) = 24.827; p<0.01). The considerably high for such a short scale. In the adaptation study (Çuhadaroğlu, 1986), the Cronbach-alpha coefficient was reported results of t-test conducted to test the significance of the to be 0.76. In the test-retest method conducted, four weeks after regression coefficients show that emotional intelligence’s the adaptation study, the reliability coefficient was found to be 0.71. sub-dimensions of well-being (t = 5.453, p <0.05) and A high score taken from the scale after the reverse coded items sociability (t = 3.102, p <0.05) and self-esteem (t = 2.589, were corrected indicates a high self-esteem. In the current study, p < 0.05) significantly predict the self-efficacy level of the the Cronbach-alpha reliability coefficient of the Rosenberg self- pre-service teachers in the positive direction. On the esteem scale was found to be 0.81. other hand, the sub-dimensions of emotionality (t =- 1.624) and self-control (t=-0.508) were found to be not Data collection and analysis significantly predicting the self-efficacy level of the pre- service teachers. According to the standardized The data were collected in the 2016/2017 academic year. The scale regression coefficients, the significant predictors of the was administered on a volunteer basis and the researchers went to self-efficacy level of the pre-service teachers can be classrooms to explain how the scales would be completed. The completion of the scales lasted for 30 min on average. The given in order of importance as follows: well-being (β predicted variable of the study is teacher self-efficacy and =0.374), sociability (β =0.226), and self-esteem (β=0.199). 1110 Educ. Res. Rev.

Table 1. Correlation coefficients between variables and descriptive statistics related to variables.

Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 M SD 1. Self-efficacy - 0.554 0.419 0.119 0.204 0.471 162.7 26.7 2. Well-being 0.554 - 0.405 0.116 0.274 0.552 20.3 4.5 3. Sociability 0.419 0.405 - 0.503 0.407 0.546 20.6 4.2 4. Emotionality 0.119 0.116 0.503 - 0.418 0.407 18.9 4.3 5. Self-control 0.204 0.274 0.407 0.418 - 0.433 20.3 4.8 6. Self-esteem 0.471 0.552 0.546 0.407 0.433 - 33.4 5.2

Table 2. Multiple-Regression Analysis Results related to the Extent to which Emotional Intelligence and Self-esteem Predict Teacher Self-efficacy.

Variable B Sh β t p Self-efficacy - - - - - Well-being 2.200 0.403 0.374 5.453 0.00 Sociability 1.435 0.463 0.226 3.102 0.02 Emotionality -0.649 0.421 -0.105 -1.542 0.12 Self-control -0.181 0.356 -0.033 -0.508 0.61 Self-esteem 1.009 0.390 0.199 2.589 0.01

2 R= 0.613, R =0.376, F(6-204)=24.827; p<0.01.

The findings obtained from the standard multiple- Magliulo, 2003). It can be maintained that pre-service regression analysis can be summarized as follows: well- teachers having high levels of well-being will have high being, sociability and self-esteem significantly predict the self-confidence and can evaluate positive and negative self-efficacy level of the pre-service teachers in the events more objectively. positive direction, while self-control and emotionality do Another finding of the current study is that one of the not significantly predict it. sub-dimensions of emotional intelligence, sociability significantly and positively predicts the self-efficacy levels of the pre-service teachers (t=2.589, p<0.05). In other DISCUSSION words, the pre-service teachers having high levels of sociability also have high levels of self-efficacy. The findings of the current study revealed that well-being, According to Petrides and Furnham (2003), people with one of the sub-dimensions of emotional intelligence, high level of sociability can manage their relationships significantly and positively predicts the self-efficacy level well and can comfortably and easily express themselves. of the pre-service teachers (t=5.453, p<.05). Thus, it can People with high levels of sociability can show be argued that with improving well-being, the pre-service and effect others’ feelings as well. In their study, Çiftçi teachers’ self-efficacy level will also increase. What is and Taşkaya (2010) found that there is a significant and meant with well-being, one of the sub-dimensions of positive correlation between the self-efficacy level of the emotional intelligence, is individuals’ being aware of their pre-service classroom teachers and their communication strengths and believing that they can cope with difficulties skills. As individuals having high levels of sociability feel in their lives; that is, their being positive. Individuals with more comfortable in dealing with conflicts with others, in high levels of well-being can cope with the stress more affecting them and communicating with them, their self- easily and can turn negative states into opportunities efficacy levels are expected to be high. (Petrides and Furnham, 2003). Chan (2006) reported that The findings of the current study revealed that self- there is a negative correlation between teachers’ efficacy levels of the pre-service teachers having high emotional burn-out levels and positive arrangement. self-esteem (t=3.102, p<0.05) are also high self-esteem. Moreover, Mohzan et al. (2013) stated that academic When individuals their own performance, when they achievement of the students with high levels of emotional feel confident and when they believe that they will be intelligence is also high. In the current study, it was found successful, their self-efficacy levels also increase that self-efficacy levels of the pre-service teachers whose (Alderman, 1999). High self-esteem is related to well-being levels are high are also high. Also in literature, successful adaptation to life events, positive emotions, it is revealed that there is a significant correlation self-control ability to accept criticism, and coping with between self-efficacy and self-esteem (Bacchini and stress, as well as not being overly critical of oneself or Şahin 1111

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